Routine A Captain America Story
by lewiscooper
Summary: On a routine mission during World War 2 Captain America discovers a mysterious building housing a bizarre secret.


Routine.

A Captain America Story.

By Lewis Cooper

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Sometime during World War 2, somewhere over France.

Captain America stood by the door as the plane made it's way over the French countryside. He made a few last minute checks as he prepared to jump. Today was just a routine mission, something to keep him in shape.Within minutes he'll parachute down, locate the target and destroy it. Simple.

The Captain recieved the signal from the pilot, indicating they were in the correct position. Pulling back the heavy plane door, Cap immediately felt the immense air pressure, this was nothing knew, he'd jumped countless times. Steadying himself he stepped out and felt the familiar rush as he descended. With impeccable timing Cap released his parachute as the ground rushed up towards him and then landed in a cold, desolate field.

In the distance he could see his target, a small but noticeable bunker, an ammunitions dump for the enemy forces. Just a simple, routine mission tonight, destroy the munitions and eliminate any opposition.

Shedding his parachute, Cap advanced on the target, swiftly but still wary, in case enemy forces were in the vicinity. As he neared he spotted an enemy guard, clearly tired and disinterested in guarding anything. Cap advanced once more and readied his familiar shield. He stealthily approached the enemy from behind and with one swift, carefully timed movement, knocked the man unconscious with barely a sound.

Dragging the comatose man out of sight, Cap then advanced on the main bunker. The bunker itself was much smaller than Cap had envisioned and didn't seem to have any kind of security measures whatsoever. Cap simply opened the main door and stepped into the darkness.

Scanning the bleak room inside Cap couldn't see anything in the way of ammunition or weapons, only a number of tables, cabinets and a small amount of shredded paper. It seemed like the intelligence report he had received was incorrect, there wasn't anything worth finding here.

Then, Cap heard it, a faint whimper from somewhere near him. Listening closely he heard the noise again, this time following it to it's source. It seemed to come from the other side of the wall. The wall itself was aging and decrepid, Cap knew he could take it down with the right amount of pressure in the correct place. Rearing back with his arm, Cap brought the edge of his shield down directly into the wall, shattering a number of the bricks into dust and making a large enough hole for him to squeeze through.

As Cap made his way through the hole he caught sight of someone sitting in a chair on the other side of the dimly lit room. Cautiously making his way over he saw the man in the chair wasn't moving, or even breathing. Cupping the man's chin and tilting his head back slowly Cap got a look at his face, beaten and swollen, like he had been tortured.

What alarmed Cap was the man's naked torso, his skin had turned bright red, and had seemingly endless amounts of tiny puncture marks, like he had been injected over and over again. Lower down there were slash marks, almost surgical incisions but with very little care or accuracy. Worse still, several layers of skin had been removed and tiny, crude mechanical implants had been placed inside the man's skin. Cap had no idea what had been done to this man but it seemed to be far more than torture that had taken place here.

A shuffling noise behind Cap alarmed him as he turned and saw the guard he had knocked out earlier, clearly he had regained consciousness quicker than Cap had expected. The guard's jaw dropped in a mixture of awe and fear as he uttered two words in clear English, "Super Soldier".

The guard raised his gun but before he could even brush the trigger Cap's shield caught him squarely in the jaw, Cap's vastly superior reflexes allowing him to launch the shield before the guard could act. The guard was sent hurtling backward, his head hitting hard against the wall behind him. Cap checked him, dead. A rare mistake for Captain America, he had not meant to kill him, you can't get answers from a dead man.

Cap moved back over to the man in the chair and was shocked as the man opened his mouth and coughed dark red blood, dribbling down his chin and onto his chest, wincing as the pain ran through his body. Cap looked the man square in the eyes and saw the same look the guard had had when he saw him. The man then managed to splutter the words, barely audible but unmistakeable, "Super Soldier".

Cap could see the agony on the man's face and knew he could not leave him this way. Cap picked up the guard's gun and slowly took aim at the man's head. The man gradually closed his eyes and Cap could see a very faint glimmer of a smile on his face. Cap gently squeezed the trigger and quietly said "i'm sorry".

Captain America did not know what had gone on in this hellish building, but he knew he couldn't let any of it remain. Whether because of others finding it and benefiting from the evil that took place within it's walls or simply because he felt deep sympathy for the tortured man, Cap knew he had to destroy it.

Arming the explosives he had originally intended to put to use in destroying enemy munitions, Cap left the building and made his way to the rendevous point. Cap heard the loud explosion behind him and glanced back. He did not know what had taken place within the building, he wasn't sure if he would ever know. The one thing Captain America did know is that he didn't want to see a human being treated in the same way as the tortured man, he had to do all he could in order to prevent the evil that he had witnessed from ever occuring again.

--END--


End file.
